Cooling Pad Testing & Results

Testing Methodology

The program used to testing the effectiveness of the cooling pad on a laptop was conducted using AIDA64 Extreme Edition. A System Stability Test was carried out to stress the CPUs, FPU, cache, and system memory. In this way a maximum heat situation was created, or at least enough heat was generated to provide an opportunity to measure the effectiveness of the cooling pad. CPU temperatures were the most volatile, and so they were used as the test data, and the AIDA64 Computer/Sensor sub-menu was used to obtain this data during the system stability test.

Room temperature was monitored to ensure that the test conditions did not affect the results. The notebooks were turned on and allowed to sit idle (CPU use less than 5%) for approximately 15 minutes, on a hard surface to establish a baseline temperature of the CPUs. The notebooks were then placed on the cooling pad and allowed to idle for another 15 minutes to provide a data point at idle, to identify if there was any effect from the cooling pad at idle and at maximum cooling fan speed. The laptop was replaced on the hard surface and the AIDA64 System Stability test started.

After at least 15 minutes, when the laptop temperatures were stabilized and they were recorded. The System Stability Test was then terminated and the laptop allowed to return to idle temperature. Then the laptop was placed on the cooling pad, with maximum fan speed, the stability test restarted and the temperatures allowed to stabilize, and then recorded.

Above is the test set up for the DeepCool N9 Cooling Pad. As you can see the platform angle was set to the first notch which is at 12°. There was no attempt to check cooling effect as a function of platform angle. At this angle the platform was separated from the base, and air could freely circulate under the platform area.

Test System

Laptop 1

HP Pavilion g6

Computer Type: ACPI x64-based PC (Mobile)

System Memory: 7650 MB (DDR3-1600 DDR3 SDRAM)

Processor: Mobile QuadCore AMD A10-4600M, 2700 MHz (27 x 100)

Video: AMD Radeon HD 7660G (512 MB)

Disk Drive: TOSHIBA MQ01ABD075 (750 GB, 5400 RPM, SATA-II

Monitor: 15.5" led 1280x800

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8

Laptop 2

Toshiba Satellite L750

Computer Type: ACPI x64-based PC (Mobile)

System Memory: 4043 MB (DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM

Processor: Mobile DualCore Intel Core i5-2410M, 2700 MHz (27 x 100)

Video: Intel(R) HD Graphics Family (1841080 KB)

Disk Drive TOSHIBA MK6475GSX (640 GB, 5400 RPM, SATA-II

Monitor: 15.5" led 1280x800

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

Results

The results are summarized in the following table:

As can be seen the cooling effect of the DeepCool N9 Cooling Pad on the laptop computer was not huge. after the temperature stabilized there was a 1.5° to 2° Celsius seems to be usual. During use I was able to see a larger difference between the uncooled laptop and the cooled laptop. Although I was not able to obtain detailed information I was able to see a significant difference between the uncooled temperature, at moderate CPU usage and when the laptop was on a soft surface. In this case the ability of the fan to pull in air and exhaust it through the platform grid was a decided advantage over the usual natural convection. So I would say there is a use for a low current fan with a moderate speed.

Heat transfer between the laptop and the bottom surface of the cooling pad was minimal, and so as a method of reducing direct heat transfer the cooling pad was very effective.

Outside the official heat reduction testing I attempted to measure the performance of the DeepCool N9 Cooling Pad as a heat reduction method between the laptop and the operator. Certainly when the laptop is on the cooling platform on a hard surface there is almost no heat transmitted to the surface. When the unit is placed on a soft surface, like a couch or a bed the outside of the laptop does not get as hot as when it is directly on the soft material. This really is not too surprising. The DeepCool N9 Cooling Pad ensures that there is a thermal break between the laptop and the soft surface, and it is well designed to ensure that there is a positive airflow on the laptop as well. At one point I was using the DeepCool N9 Cooling Pad on my lap, and things started to heat up, until I turned on the fan. It was a decidedly refreshing experience.